Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) claims the lives of thousands of infants in the United States each year. These infants generally appear to be normal and healthy, but succumb without warning in their cribs. The cause of SIDS is not known, and thus there is no certain means of preventing these tragedies. Medical specialists have, however, advanced several theories to explain the onset of SIDS. U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,711 issued to Hargest et al. reviews these theories, provides statistics regarding the impact of SIDS in the United States, and explains the advantage of placing an infant on its stomach for rest or sleep to prevent choking on regurgitated fluids. This advantage may be accentuated in the case of a premature or newborn infant with relatively undeveloped lungs. However, placing the infant on its stomach has certain drawbacks. As noted in Hargest, one theory regarding the cause of SIDS is that an infant sleeping or resting on its stomach, and thus with its mouth near the mattress or mattress pad of its crib, inhales the carbon dioxide products of breathing that have accumulated near the top surface of the mattress or mattress pad resulting in "carbon dioxide poisoning." This result may alternatively be described as suffocation due to an insufficient amount of oxygen in the carbon-dioxide rich air near the infant's mouth. The presence of bedding may contribute to such accumulation and thus contribute to the possibility of suffocation by the infant.
As a result, there are reasons to conclude that SIDS may be prevented by avoiding the accumulation of carbon dioxide near the top surface of the mattress or mattress pad of an infant's crib. Known apparatuses for attempting to prevent such accumulation, and in some cases for attempting to provide a fresh flow of air or oxygen, include that of Hargest and also the mattresses disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,618 issued to Beedy et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,536,906 issued to Varndell et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,339,216 issued to Ormerod.
These known mattresses and mattress pads, however, suffer from the limitation, among others, that the mechanism or method for preventing the accumulation of carbon dioxide or introducing fresh air is localized in the region where the infant's mouth is expected to be located. Thus, such mattresses or mattress pads are ineffective for their intended use if the infant moves its position so that its mouth is no longer situated near the region where carbon dioxide is discharged. Moreover, this localization prevents the achievement of an even temperature over the top surface of the mattress or mattress pad if the discharged air is heated or cooled. Also, the flow of air over the mattress top surface may be irregular or difficult to regulate. Such undesirable temperature gradients and drafts may be addressed by covering the infant with a blanket or other bedding, but the use of such bedding may, as already noted, introduce an additional mechanism that causes carbon dioxide accumulation.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks of prior art apparatuses and methods, such as by preventing the accumulation of carbon dioxide across the entire top surface of the mattress or mattress pad, maintaining an even flow of air over the top surface of the mattress or mattress pad, maintaining an even temperature over the mattress or mattress pad top surface, and/or avoiding the need for bedding.